Looking back on my 15 or so years of education, I've become aware of just how significant of an impact it has had on my intellectual, social, and emotional life. The variety of schools I've attended have each had their differing effects on my personal development, both narrowing and opening, influencing and repulsing my mind in their designated time periods. Altogether, there is no denying that formal education has attained and continues to maintain a profound impact on all aspects of my life.
Beginning with elementary school, it is ironic but nonetheless very true that my scarcely-populated, extremely rigid church-that-somehow-managed-to-pass-as-a-school was actually exceedingly appropriate for my then just-as-tiny and sheltered brain. (You can see I may still harbor some resentment for having no choice in the matter of which school I would attend until I was 14.) I cannot blame my parents for wanting their children to grow up with a sound moral and ethical code, I just question today whether or not private school was the best means to carry out this desire. Either way, my private school class of no more than 10 students proved itself to be conducive to, and reinforcing of, my cultural environment at home. Growing up with parents who were academics themselves (father is a tenured college professor; mother holds a master's degree) meant that school was taken very seriously and prioritized above any extra curricular or even familial activities. Seeing as my privately-funded school didn't have the resources to offer anything beyond basic academic classes, I led a rather uneventful, unquestioning, straight-A elementary and middle school life.
Yet I yearned for more. My consumption of countless books and general dissatisfaction with the limiting nature and bias of the school I was attending resulted in me begging my parents to allow me to attend a public high school. After all, I was doing extraordinarily well in school and my outside hobbies of soccer and piano, who were they to complain? Public high school didn't turn out to be quite the perfect picture I had painted in my head, but looking back, it was a blessing in disguise that sparked and encouraged my need for and vigorous involvement in the furthering of my knowledge. It opened my eyes to new words (shit, fuck), people (punk rockers, atheists, even self-proclaimed anarchists), and ideas (don't believe everything you've been told!) that challenged the culture I had come to know and seek comfort in. It was a whole new "secular" world; one that I had been warned about and come to fear, despite my stubborn beliefs that I would preserve my innocence and "religion" throughout my 4 years there. Of course, my sudden and strange new educational environment did end up having an immense influence on everything I had previously believed. Without my high school teachers consistently confronting and questioning my shortsighted notions, I wouldn't be half the person I am today, someone that I am proud to say never takes anything at face value, and has a penchant for challenging even the most seemingly minute of opinions.
In addition to other things, my high school teachers indubitably prepared me for college life, where I am free to determine my own beliefs, what I value, and what I desire to do with my one and only life. I cannot thank them enough for extracting me from my childhood "culture", and leading the way to an alternative, more inspiring academic culture where I have finally found myself and my somewhat rebellious middle-child-syndrome attributes at "home".
Regardless of my personal convictions as to whether or not the schools I attended either benefited or disadvantaged me emotionally and psychologically, there is no denying that I was blessed to find myself surrounded by loving parents and teachers that personally concerned themselves with and desired my academic success. And THAT'S something to "praise God" about!